A non-government Organisation (NGO) known as the Victims Support Fund (VSF), has distributed food items to 3,000 households who are victims of banditry and terrorism in some identified Local Government Areas of Kaduna state.
The benefiting LGAs are Chikun, Giwa and Zangon Kataf where 1,000 beneficiaries in each of the Local councils, mainly internally displaced persons were provided with food items.
The items distributed include; bags of rice, beans, vegetable oil, salt, seasoning and sugar.
During the flag-off ceremony in Chikun, Mr Sunday Oyibe, an official of VSF said the foundation was set up to provide succour to victims of banditry, terrorism and other related problems.
He explained that the foundation focuses on four areas, including livelihood, to enable victims of banditry and terrorism to recover and get reintegrated into society.
He however mentioned that food was very critical to the victims, considering their condition, stressing it was out of humanitarian consideration that they provided the food items.
“This is the first phase of the distribution as we would sustain the gesture in the next two years as directed by our Chairman, retired Lt-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma,” he stressed.
Earlier, the team Leader of the group in charge of Kaduna and Adamawa states, Mr David Garnvwa, said the foundation was presently working in nine states of the federation.
He said the food items were palliatives, noting that VSF focused on the immediate, medium and long-term measures of alleviating the sufferings of the IDPs.
He sympathised with the beneficiaries for the condition they found themselves, in while urging them to be patient, saying that no condition was permanent.
The Programme Manager of Carelink Resource Foundation (CRF), a partner in the programme Mr Silas Ideva, disclosed that the group also engages in such humanitarian services.
According to him, the aim was to ensure that vulnerable households benefitted from such interventions to improve their well-being as well as enhance their livelihood.
“The VSF is providing complementary services to the Federal Government’s effort in providing relief services to the internally displaced persons,” he said.
“This initiative encompasses not only the provision of essential food aid but also extends to entrepreneurial training, equipping beneficiaries with starter packs and machinery for self-reliance,” he added.
One of the beneficiaries, Mrs Eunice Chukwu appreciated the gesture, saying, the food items were so much a relief for the struggle and hardship to start a new life in another community.
“As I am talking to you, I don’t even have what I and my children will eat today until this palliative comes, it will surely go a long way in easing my difficulties.”
She thanked the foundation while calling on other Philanthropists to also engage in humanitarian activities in their areas.
Dominica Nwabufo
